John Cena Says He Isn’t Retiring, But His Role In WWE Is Different Now

At Sunday night’s No Mercy pay-per-view — spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet — John Cena went toe to toe with Roman Reigns for the first time ever. And shockingly to many fans, Cena came up on the losing end of things in his first meeting with the Big Dog. Not even a rolling Attitude Adjustment could put Reigns away, and Cena was in utter disbelief and being unable to defeat the vest in the world.

After the match, Cena had a very, very long curtain call (it was nice of Reigns to not tell Cena to get out of his Yard), and finished it up with a salute to the fans before heading to the back. Naturally, a Cena loss paired with an extended farewell to the live audience leads people to believe that the man is once again taking time off for outside ventures, but this felt different, somehow.

As the curtain call was happening and throughout the remainder of No Mercy, fans began speculating on whether this was it for Cena, and whether he might actually be retiring (or whether this recent run of historic first-ever matches that AREN’T happening at WrestleMania or a similar big show might be part of a retirement tour of sorts).

As much as I think they picked the wrong guy to replace him, I like this move for Cena. It will feel like a big deal whenever he shows up, and unlike Brock, we can count on him to give his all and deliver a great performance every time out.